As of July 2018, there were 6,339 comets playing tag in our solar system. Today, that number has increased and will continue rising as there is a trillion scooting around our outer solar system.
Despite this whopping great number of icy trailblazers, only one, a year is visible to the naked eye.
This year, Stephen Chidwick is that comet.
Poker players have been saying for years that Chidwick is a little bit special. These days, he’s proving it, racking up titles for fun, and as I type this, he sits on top of the Global Poker Index (GPI) World Rankings.
Chidwick has been the king for four-weeks after deposing Alex Foxen, and the pair have exchanged the title of ‘World’s Best Live Tournament Player’ for the better part of 17-months.
Rainer Kempe and Bryn Kenney are doing their best to close the gap, but you suspect Foxen and Chidwick will go toe-to-toe for some while yet. And Chidwick manages this while changing nappies, cleaning up puke, and pushing a stroller around the neighbourhood at ungodly hours.
Foxen hasn’t picked up any points since securing 320.18 for finishing 40th in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. He did cash three times at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Barcelona, including a fourth in a €25,000 event, but none of the scores qualified.
Chidwick was able to eke ahead after earning 430 points during the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in London for making the final table of both £100,000 Main Events (No-Limit Hold’em & Short Deck). Chidwick also finished fourth in the Triton Million £1m buy-in event, but the score didn’t qualify. The man from Deal put in another solid performance during the British Poker Open (BPO), cashing in four events, winning one, but he picked up zero GPI points because field sizes were too small.
High Rollers Rule
Sifting through the GPI Top 20, only three people don’t compete in the high stakes live tournament scene regularly: Jeremy Ausmus (#10), Joseph Cheong (#12), and Shaun Deeb (#18).
Steve O’Dwyer re-enters the Top 10 after cashing three times at EPT Barcelona, including the final table of the €50,000 and €100,000 High Rollers, both of which earned him GPI points. O’Dwyer maintained that form in the British Poker Open (BPO) finishing runner-up in a £10,000 and a £25,000 event but didn’t pick up any points for his efforts.
Current World Rankings
1. Stephen Chidwick
2. Alex Foxen
3. Rainer Kempe
4. Bryn Kenney
5. Sean Winter
6. Sam Greenwood
7. Manig Loeser
8. Steve O’Dwyer
9. Ali Imsirovic
10. Jeremy Ausmus
2019 GPI Player of the Year
Sean Winter overtook Rainer Kempe at the head of the 2019 GPI Player of the Year rankings. Winter’s shove ends an eight-week run with Kempe at the top. In a recent interview with yours truly over at CalvinAyre.com, Kempe confirmed that winning the GPI POY would be an honour, but only believes his equity of winning the title is at 10-15%.
“It doesn’t make much sense to chase it,” Kempe told me. “There are 20 people in competition for it. Being in the first place right now doesn’t necessarily mean you have the best chance to win it because of the scoring system. If I had to guess my equity of winning this year, it would be 10-15% or less, and that’s not the kind of equity that’s going to push me to chase it.
“If the situation changes at the end of the year, and it’s only me, Manig Loeser and Bryn Kenney who can win it, and I am one big score away from taking it down – I will do whatever it takes to win it because winning it would be a great achievement.”
Winter won the $5,250 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) Championship in August, beating 809-entrants to rack up a $698,175 score. Winter may have the lead, but he has to be another outside bet. Winter’s partner is expecting a baby, and that means Winter is more likely to be found in Mothercare than a poker room.
Current Player of the Year Rankings
1. Sean Winter
2. Rainer Kempe
3. Stephen Chidwick
4. Sam Greenwood
5. Bryn Kenney
6. Shannon Shorr
7. Manig Loeser
8. Ali Imsirovic
9. Danny Tang
10. James Romero
Top Female Performers
World Rankings
1. Kristen Bicknell
2. Maria Ho
3. Loni Harwood
4. Jessica Dawley
5. Li Yan
6. Marua Lampropulos
7. Lauren Roberts
8. Natalie Teh
9. Wendy Freedman
10 Ana Marquez
Movers and Shakers
Chris Hunichen is the biggest mover in the high stakes scene, shifting 162 places to #61, after picking up close to 700 points for finishing 9/94 in a $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo at the SHRPO, and winning the 540-entrant €10,300 High Roller at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Barcelona for €841,345.
Chin Wei Lim climbed 110 places to reach #184 in the rankings. Lim currently sits second behind Michael Soyza in highly competitive Malaysian rankings. Ivan Leow (#230), and Paul Phua (#284) are the two other Malaysian players occupying oxygen in the GPI 300. Lim has made four final tables in 2019, including two high rolling finishes at Triton London, and two at EPT Barcelona. Lim also played in and cashed in the £1m buy-in Triton Million, finishing tenth for £1.1m.
Another big mover is Juan Pardo. The Spaniard rose 101 places to rest in the #192 position after an incredibly consistent display in EPT Barcelona. Pardo won the €25,000 and €50,000 Single-Day High Rollers, back-to-back, and came fourth in a second €25,000 High Roller, accumulating €1.8m in gross prize money. Pardo currently sits #5 in the Spanish GPI rankings behind high rollers Sergio Aido (1), Sergi Reixach (2), and Adrian Mateos (3).
Finnish high stakes stalwart, Juha Helppi, broke back into the GPI 300 sitting in #236 place. Helppi cashed in two high rollers at EPT Barcelona, finishing runner-up to Timothy Adams in a €10,200 Six-Handed event.
James Chen had a stunning WSOP, making the final tables of the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, and the $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em for a combined haul of more than $1m in gross winnings. The man from Taiwan followed that up with two ITM finishes at EPT Barcelona, making the final table of €25,000 event. Chen breaks into the GPI 300, nestling in #269.
Finally, Triton regular, Peter Jetten, also made it into the GPI 300. The Canadian star currently sits in #272 place after making seven final tables in 2019 with his seventh-place finish in a £25,000 Short Deck event in London his most recent.